Disability

About 6 percent of the nation’s working-age population receives disability payments from Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and people who depend on those benefits live in every state, county, and congressional district. Nevertheless, there’s a distinct …

States with high rates of disability receipt tend to have populations that are less educated, older, and more blue-collar than other states and to have fewer immigrants.[1] In fact, those four factors alone are associated with about 85 percent of the variation in disability receipt rates across states.
That conclusion is …

Policymakers need to replenish the Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) trust fund by late 2016. That necessity comes as no surprise and does not pose a crisis, and policymakers can address it with a simple, time-honored solution: boosting DI’s share of the Social Security payroll tax, which also funds …

Social Security can pay full benefits for close to two decades, the trustees’ latest annual report shows, but will then face a significant, though manageable, funding shortfall that the President and Congress should address in the near future.[1] Doing so would permit changes that are gradual rather than sudden and allow …

Disability Insurance (DI) is an integral part of Social Security. It provides modest but vital benefits to workers who can no longer support themselves on account of a serious and long-lasting medical impairment. The Social Security Administration (SSA) administers the DI program.
In December 2013, 8.9 million people received disabled-worker benefits …

Policymakers need to replenish the Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) trust fund by late 2016, but that necessity comes as no surprise and poses no crisis. Although the DI trust fund is legally separate from the much larger Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund, both are integral parts of Social Security. …

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities held a conference call briefing on Monday, July 28 at 4:00 p.m. (ET) to discuss the annual reports that the Social Security and Medicare Trustees released earlier that day.
Paul Van de Water and Kathy Ruffing, Senior Fellows at the Center and …

Social Security can pay full benefits for close to two decades, the new trustees’ report shows, but will then face a significant, though manageable, funding shortfall that the President and Congress should address in the near future.
Specifically, the trustees estimate that Social …

What Is Social Security Disability Insurance?
Disability Insurance (DI) is an integral part of Social Security. It provides modest but vital benefits to workers who can no longer support themselves on account of a serious and long-lasting medical impairment. The Social Security Administration (SSA) administers the DI program.
In December 2013, 8.9 …

What Is Supplemental Security Income?
The federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program provides monthly cash assistance to people who are disabled, blind, or elderly and have little income and few assets. In December 2013, nearly 8.4 million people collected SSI benefits (see Figure 1).[1] For nearly three-fifths of …

What Is the Supplemental Security Income Program?
The federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program provides monthly cash assistance to people who are disabled, blind, or elderly and have little income and few assets. SSI is distinct from the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) programs commonly known as Social Security, though many …

The Disability Insurance (DI) program — a vital part of Social Security that pays modest benefits to people who can no longer support themselves by working due to severe medical impairments — has grown rapidly in recent decades. The program’s chief actuary has consistently stated that demographic changes …

On May 31, the Social Security Board of Trustees issued its annual report on the program’s financial status.[1] Social Security does not face an immediate crisis, the trustees’ report shows, but it does face a funding shortfall two decades from now that the President and Congress should address reasonably soon so the program …

Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Becerra, and members of the subcommittee, I appreciate the invitation to appear before you today.[1]
The Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program provides modest but vital benefits to workers who become unable to perform substantial work on account of a serious medical impairment. Although some …

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for low-income disabled children are back in the news, in part because of a recent New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof.[1] Unfortunately, the program is being subject to some sharp criticism that is based on misunderstanding of key issues related to SSI for poor children with …

The Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program provides modest but vital benefits to workers who become unable to perform substantial work on account of a serious medical impairment. Although some critics charge that spending for the program is “out of control,” the bulk of the rise in federal disability rolls …

On April 23, the Social Security Board of Trustees issued its annual report on the program's financial status.[1] The report shows some deterioration in the program's finances since the 2011 report. While that revision — which stems chiefly from lingering economic weakness — is not alarming, it reminds policymakers …

Some conservative critics of federal social programs, including leading presidential candidates, are sounding an alarm that the United States is rapidly becoming an “entitlement society” in which social programs are undermining the work ethic and creating a large class of Americans who prefer to depend on government benefits rather …

On May 13, the Social Security Board of Trustees issued its annual report on the program’s financial status. [1] The trustees’ report shows some mild deterioration in the program’s short- and long-term outlook — a finding that was widely expected and well within the range of past revisions.
Several key …